The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) requests applications for research on tools for insertional
mutagenesis in the mouse. This request is made together with 14 other NIH components.*

The objective of this request for applications (RFA) is to solicit Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology
Transfer Research (SBIR/STTR) proposals for the development of tools and techniques to establish random and targeted sequence-tagged
insertion libraries of embryonic stem (ES) cells that can be used to generate mutant mice in which the expression of the tagged
gene could be controlled temporarily and spatially.

Examples of potential areas of research include: feasibility studies for the establishment of sequence-tagged insertional
libraries of C57BL/6 ES cells in which the expression of the tagged gene can be controlled temporarily or spatially; development
of new or modified site-specific recombination systems for efficient random and targeted insertional mutagenesis and enhanced
control of conditional expression; development of novel vectors that allow imaging of specific cell types or tissues, metabolic
activity, or other cellular or physiological functions; invention of efficient systems for transposon tagging in mammalian
systems for the wide use of the scientific community; development of vectors for identification of promoters and enhancers
that could be used for tissue-specific and temporal expression of recombinases and for the study of gene expression patterns;
and methods to automate the processing of large numbers of clones and to identify the sites of insertion.